Abstract

Conductive atomic force microscope had been applied to study the electrical transportation mechanism together with topographic information on a periodical silica nanotrench structure. The bottom of the trench is covered by a silicathin film, while the ridges between the trenches are made up of thick silicafilm. On the same bias, the current transport through the bottom is larger than the current transport through the ridges. In the bottom, rectifying characteristics are observed; the conduction mechanism can be ascribed as a Schottky emission. Strong inhomogeneous electrical properties are also observed. A high resolution with a lateral resolution below is demonstrated in the conductive atomic force microscope study.

Received 20 November 2006Accepted 02 January 2006Published online 25 January 2007

Acknowledgments:

The project was supported in part by Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing (Wuhan University of Technology), and NEDO under the Nanotechnology Program and Grant-in-Aids for Scientific Research, MEXT.